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Brier, Jennifer

Abstract

The project makes visible to a wide and diverse audience an expansive notion of what it means for women with HIV to be healthy by actively engaging graphic, exhibition, and interactive design in all aspects of the project: from collection of the oral histories and ephemera, to methods of collaborative interpretation, to mechanisms for displaying the work and engaging audiences, including health care professionals and lay people, around the city. The interdisciplinary process has proven effective in making participants feel seen and understood, and then communicating their history to audiences who often do not find themselves connected to issues of social health, women and HIV or racial inequality. We will also use the collected materials to design health care education modules. Intervening in this sector with curriculum produced by our interdisciplinary matrix of history/design/health will allow the project to help medical and nursing students better understand the history of the epidemic and the lives of those living with HIV.